The Giants’ safety underwent an MRI to gauge the severity of a sprained medial collateral ligament suffered on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers and determine whether he had a shot to play this coming weekend against the Dallas Cowboys.

While looking at the MCL – and the anterior cruciate ligament, which remained intact – Phillips saw the cartilage inside his kneecap, which had been repaired during microfracture surgery in 2009.

And he liked what he saw.

“It was a great look,” Phillips said with a grin. “I got a sneak peek at it and it looked real good. It improved even more. So that was a real good thing to see.”

But back to the issue at hand. Phillips did some jogging and backpedaling outside today while his teammates practiced inside. He thinks he’ll do some more work on Friday but it doesn’t sound like he’ll practice.

Defensive coordinator Perry Fewell said the team hasn’t ruled out Phillips, so the Giants are holding out hope he’ll be ready to go.

“Checking out the MRI and talking to the trainers they definitely said it’s a thing that could take 2-3 weeks but it depends on how you feel,” Phillips said. “I don’t feel any pain right now so I’m optimistic.”

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Only one change in the Giants' practice report today and it's that DE Dave Tollefson (knee) returned to work in a limited capacity.

For the Cowboys, LB DeMarcus Ware (neck) and G Kyle Kosier (knee) were limited after sitting out on Wednesday.